MIGRATION: DEFINITION AND CAUSES

 Migration is  defined as a movement involving a change from the usual place of residence. Migration involves two sets of places, the place of origin and the place of destination along with two sets of population. Every move is an out-migration with respect to the place of origin and an in-migration with respect to the place of destination.

The change in the usual place of residence can take place either on permanent, or semi-permanent or temporary basis. 

The relatively permanent movement of people across territorial boundaries is referred to as inmigration and out-migration the action of leaving one place to settle in another, especially within a country. 

 When the boundaries are across international borders it is referred to as immigration and emigration. The place of in-migration or immigration is called the receiver population, and the place of out-migration or emigration is called the sender population. 

Migration involves two sets of places ,  the place of origin and the place of destination. The place of origin is the place from where the person always moves, i.e. the starting point. For migrants the place of origin is either an area of residence or an area of residence from which the last move was made. The place of destination is usually the area where the move terminates. For migrants the place of destination is the area of residence at the end of the migration interval. 

Migration Stream’ is the total number of moves made during a given migration interval that have a common area of origin and of destination. In practice, however, it is a body of migrants having common areas of origin and destination.

The United Nations Multilingual Demographic Dictionary (United Nations, 1956) defines ‘Migration’ as a form of geographical mobility or spatial mobility between one geographical unit and another. It generally involves a change in residence from the place of origin to place of destination or place of arrival. Such migration is called permanent migration and should be distinguished from other forms of movement which do not involve a permanent change of residence.

In the Census of India migration is enumerated on two bases : (i) place of birth, if the place of birth is different from the place of enumeration (known as life-time migrant); (ii) place of residence, if the place of last residence is different from the place of enumeration (known as migrant by place of last residence). As per 2011 census, out of 1,210 million people in the country, 455.8 million (about 37%) were reported as migrants of place of last residence. 

In most of the countries, it has been observed that industrialisation and economic development have been accompanied by large scale movement of people from farm areas to towns, from towns to other towns and from one country to another.

Those who have tried to generalise about migration phenomena or have attempted to study the factors affecting internal migration movements have adopted two distinctly different approaches (Bhende and Kanitkar, 1978).

The first approach is mainly a situation oriented in terms of ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors. It attempts to study the condition at home which compels a person to move out of their place of origin as well as the conditions and situation outside that attract a person from the current place of residence to move out. 

 The second approach attempts to formulate empirical generalisations and describes patterns of migration, preferably in the form of mathematical models which are valid as universal laws.  

Causes of Migration: 

People migrate for many different reasons. These reasons can be classified as economic, social, political or environmental: 

• economic migration - moving to find work or follow a particular career path 

• social migration - moving somewhere for a better quality of life or to be closer to family or friends

 • political migration - moving to escape political persecution or war 

• environmental causes of migration include natural disasters such as flooding Some people choose to migrate, eg someone who moves to another country to enhance their career opportunities. Some people are forced to migrate, eg someone who moves due to war or famine. A refugee is someone who has left their home and does not have a new home to go to. Often refugees do not carry many possessions with them and do not have a clear idea of where they may finally settle. 

People, generally are emotionally attached to their place of birth. But millions of people leave their places of birth and residence. There could be variety of reasons. These reasons can be put into two broad categories :

 (i) push factor, these cause people to leave their place of residence or origin; and 

(ii) pull factors, which attract the people from different places. 

In India people migrate from rural to urban areas mainly due to poverty, high population pressure on the land, lack of basic infrastructural facilities like health care, education, etc. Apart from these factors, natural disasters such as, flood, drought, cyclonic storms, earthquake, tsunami, wars and local conflicts also give extra push to migrate. On the other hand, there are pull factors which attract people from rural areas to cities. The most important pull factor for majority of the rural migrants to urban areas is the better opportunities, availability of regular work and relatively higher wages. Better opportunities for education, better health facilities and sources of entertainment, etc., are also quite important pull factors

Push and pull factors 

Push factors are the reasons why people leave an area. 

They include: 

• lack of services 

• lack of safety 

• high crime 

• crop failure 

• drought 

• flooding 

• poverty 

• war 

Pull factors are the reasons why people move to a particular area. 

They include: 

• higher employment 

• more wealth

 • better services 

• good climate 

• safer, less crime 

• political stabilitymore 

fertile land 

• lower risk from natural hazards